Plot
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.

Release Year: 2004

Rating: 7.4/10 (100,668 voted)

Critic's Score: 58/100

Director: Zack Snyder

Stars: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer

Storyline
Ana, a young beautiful nurse finishes her day-shift at the hospital to return home to her beloved husband, they make love and sleep together. The next day, after her husband is killed by her neighbor next door, he suddenly comes back to life. She discovers the chaos happening in her neighborhood and escapes from her home. Soon after coming to her senses in the woods, she encounters a cop and other survivors, they decide to find safety in a mall. Soon more survivors come, and they learn that if they want to stay alive, they should stick together as the world is overrun by an army of undead. Can they survive the horror in this horrific global chaos? When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth

Writers: George A. Romero, James Gunn

Cast:
Sarah Polley - Ana
Ving Rhames - Kenneth
Jake Weber - Michael
Mekhi Phifer - Andre
Ty Burrell - Steve
Michael Kelly - CJ
Kevin Zegers - Terry
Michael Barry - Bart
Lindy Booth - Nicole
Jayne Eastwood - Norma
Boyd Banks - Tucker
Inna Korobkina - Luda
R.D. Reid - Glen
Kim Poirier - Monica
Matt Frewer - Frank

Taglines: When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

Official Website: Metropolitan Filmexport [France] | Official site [Italy] |

Release Date: 19 March 2004

Filming Locations: Ashbridge's Bay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office Details

Budget: $28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $26,722,575 (USA) (21 March 2004) (2745 Screens)

Gross: $102,356,381 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 101 min  | 110 min (unrated director's cut)

Trivia:
The ending of the movie continues throughout the credits by a series of brief video clips.

Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When the group enters Andy's gun shop to rescue Nicole, they first decide to replenish their ammo. Shortly after doing so, Michael turns to check the room for zombies. When the camera turns towards the back of the room, a crew-member can clearly be seen standing frozen behind the racks of clothing before quickly ducking out of the shot.

Quotes:
Bart: Terry, come on, man. Open the door.
Terry: [Distracted by watching Nicole on the security monitors] Shut up.
Bart: Come on, man. Don't tell me to shut up. Just come open the door. I got you this job. Come on.

A Zombie Flick to Remember!!!

Rating:

Dawn of the Dead

I'm not sure I can recall witnessing an opening sequence quite like the one I saw in Zack Snyder's remake of the classic horror film 'Dawn of the Dead.' Besides being rather lengthy (it's over ten minutes before we see the opening credits), it has a bizarre creepiness about it. There's something about the cinematography employed to show us 'the beginning of the end' that I really liked: that extra long image of the little girl skating away, the skyview of Sarah Polly's car as she rides home from her shift as a nurse, the picture of perfect serenity, and those intimate scenes we see of her and her husband 'the day before.' It all makes it more tragic, when, quite unexpectedly, morning comes, and with it, the end of all that is sane. The pure chaos of the scenario, an outbreak of a dangerous break of a virus that turns those infected into ghouls, comes so suddenly that it grips us by the throat.

This is one hell of a horror movie. Even for someone as jaded as myself, who has become totally jaded to any real horror thrills, I was taken aback by how uncomfortable the movie made me feel. Our heroes, holed up at the now abandoned local mall, join small groups of survivors and find themselves fighting each other as well as the zombies when the plague starts creeping ever close to bringing them all to the brink of annihilation. The zombies have an easy-to-spot weakness: one shot to the head takes them out, but they're extremely fast, and a single bite from them leads to hopeless infection and mindlessness. Although some of the story makes little sense (for instance, if the zombies can only transmit the virus by bite and the heroes are in a mall, couldn't they don the heaviest attire imaginable rather than skimpy t-shirts?), there are lots of great twists and snappy dialogue along with the required creep-outs, gore, and slaughter.

And there's some surprisingly great humor. Easily the most memorable of the light-hearted, break-the-nerves moments is when our heroes are situated atop a roof and challenge a local gun shop owner to take out look-alike zombie celebrities, which he does with ease. It's a much needed laugh to relieve the audience of a lot of built-up jitters.

Overall, this is a remake that actually works. The characters, for all their strength and weaknesses, are decently fleshed out for a horror movie. There a few unexpected surprises that even the most attentive viewer will take pleasure in. And the action moves along at a clean, fast pace. The few holes that exist in the plot and the somewhat unsatisfying conclusion are the only real problem areas, but these are to be expected in the genre. Overall, I definitely recommend it, even to the squeamish. It's messy fun for everyone. And make sure you stay until AFTER the credits roll. You'll be glad you did.

Grade: A-

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